Phials documentation
Developer docs

Saved views and Boards in a Vial

Saved views in a Vial work the same way as in any folder. The pills, +, Save view settings, and Reset view live in the View & arrange controls under the path bar, alongside Add Property and Vial settings. The difference is where they are stored: a Vial’s views live inside the folder and follow it when you copy or sync the folder.

For the full walkthrough (create, apply, switch views, duplicate), see Saved Views. This page covers Vial-specific behavior and Boards.

Prerequisites

You must be browsing inside a Vial (the folder that contains .phials/). If you have not created one yet, see Create and manage a Vial.

One list per Vial root

Saved views are keyed to the Vial root, not each subfolder. Whether you are at the root or deep inside the tree, you see the same pills. Subfolder navigation does not change which presets exist.

What a saved view captures

Each saved view stores the same fields as in a normal folder (view mode, sort, filters, scope, grouping, collapsed groups, columns, item size). See Saved Views.

Phials only restores settings that still make sense for the Vial as it exists now. If you remove a property from the schema, sort, filter, grouping, or Boards columns that depended on it may be ignored when you apply the view.

Synced folders and multiple machines

A Vial’s saved views are kept inside the Vial, so they travel with it. If the Vial lives in iCloud, Dropbox, or another synced folder, another copy of Phials sees the same views after you:

  • Re-enter the Vial root, or
  • Run Refresh in the file list

Phials doesn’t reload the view pills on every file change while you stay inside the Vial. Which view is active is remembered per pane on this Mac, so two machines don’t fight over one active view.

Boards view

Boards is a Kanban-style view that groups files into columns from one property with discrete options, typically Select, Multi-select, Tags, or Status (see Properties). You can drag a file between columns to update that property.

Boards is available when the Vial has a property schema (at least one property defined). It is not limited to “being inside a Vial” in the UI sense; the mode needs schema data to build columns.

To use Boards:

  1. Add or configure a suitable property (Properties).
  2. Switch to Boards from the view mode controls, or create or apply a saved view whose mode is Boards.
  3. Choose the property to group by when prompted.

Grouping for Boards follows the active saved view’s groupBy when a pill is selected.

Tips

  • Saved views are per Vial root, not per subfolder.
  • Use Deactivate (click the active pill) to browse with explorer defaults without deleting presets.
  • Duplicate on the pill menu copies a preset without switching to it.
  • After a synced Vial changes on another machine, use Refresh or re-open the Vial root to see new views.